Adena Pipe soon will be state's official artifact, thanks to CSG students

Tuesday

Apr 30, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 1, 2013 at 10:58 AM

Ohio has an official insect, beverage and reptile. Now, thanks to students from Columbus School for Girls, the state will soon have an official artifact. Students at the private school in Bexley have lobbied the legislature for three years to make the Adena Pipe the state's official artifact.

Michelle Everhart, The Columbus Dispatch

Ohio has an official insect, beverage and reptile.

Now, thanks to students from Columbus School for Girls, the state will soon have an official artifact.

Students at the private school in Bexley have lobbied the legislature for three years to make the Adena Pipe the state’s official artifact. This year’s class of seventh-graders, with the help of teachers Tracy Kessler and Charlotte Stiverson, started the project to make the ancient pipe the state artifact when they were in fourth grade. Each fourth-grade class since has worked on it, testifying before committees, writing letters and visiting with legislators.

The Adena Pipe is one of the prizes of the Ohio Historical Society’s collection. It was found in 1901 in the Adena Mound in Chillicothe on Thomas Worthington’s estate. It is carved from Ohio pipestone into an effigy of an American Indian man.

According to the Historical Society website, “effigy pipes are highly unusual and the Adena Pipe is virtually unique.”

The Adena culture dated from 800 B.C. to 1 A.D.

Yesterday morning, the school group watched from the gallery at the Statehouse as the House passed the bill 95-0. The Senate passed it unanimously earlier this month. Now, it only needs Gov. John Kasich to sign it, which spokesman Rob Nichols said will happen.

“These three classes know more about the process of government than any student in the nation,” Kessler said. “I hope we’ve inspired some young politicians.”

The students have been here before, only to be thwarted by the process. They watched the House pass a similar bill at the end of last year but learned later in the day that the Senate would not vote on it because of a lack of time.

“I didn’t think it would make it, but now that I see it, it’s like, ‘Wow,’??” seventh-grader Sarah Anne Kauffman said.

Rep. Mike Duffey, who has worked with the students on the bill, called them “the future leaders of our state and nation.” After the vote, the Worthington Republican turned to them and gave them a double thumbs-up.

The girls said they learned not only about Ohio’s history and how government works but also about patience, teamwork and diligence.

“It can take years to get a bill passed. You have to be patient,” fourth-grader Natalie Tangaman said. “We are really excited to get it signed by the governor.”